I don’t know if I’m insane or what, but am I the only one who’s noticed the prevalence of what I call “ear nodes”: these little globs of flesh about a third of a centimeter long that sprout from right near the opening of the outer ear passage on so many Taiwanese.
I’ve seen SO many of these things here and never anywhere else – and the other day I saw one on a girl that was nearly an inch long! I’m really curious – is this a genetic thing, or is it some sort of radiactive building-induced deformity that we all ought to know about?
I know what you’re talking about, Vay, and those sticky-outy lumps of flesh freak me the hell out. I usually only notice them on one ear or the other. Some kind of genetic thing, I guess. Like webbed toes? I’ve seen them on philipinos and thais as well. Never seen them on caucasians. Interesting.
What’s wrong with looking at ears? Some of them are damn cute! I like little round ones that stick out perpendicular to the skull…
All manner of lumps and bumps anyone anywhere else would have excised in a heart beat. A bit like those hairy moles with half a dozen six inch bristles drooping out of them, which forms the entire facial hair for so many men in this part of the world.
Is this what you are referring to?[/quote]
No, they’re close to the ear hole. I can feel a tiny bump there on my ears, but they’re niot visible. I suspect everyone has these bumps, but in many Taiwanese they’re enlarged. And I’ve seen some so distended that they look like a thin fleshy antenna, and I wonder why they didn’t get them removed by a doctor.
Depends where. There’s like a feng shui of the face. Mao’s facial lump was often moved in his various portraits depending on which aspect the artist preferred to emphasise.
In the night markets you often see fortune tellers with charts of faces. Those are for reading moles. It’s the reason people here with big moles in prominent places on their faces don’t get them removed.
Bumping this back up since it’s been three years without any kind of real answer.
I’ve not really noticed them on adults but they are very common on kids, some ears are almost completely closed. So I don’t think it’s particularly trivial. I’m pretty sure some have surgery - particularly in the extreme case.
Also not trivial for anyone considering kids. If it were genetic, you just have to hope your partner’s genes are good, but if it’s environmental you need to know whether it’s prior environmental genetic damage (which can’t be helped now) or due to sources of pollution during pregnancy in which case it might be worth considering pregnancy elsewhere.
I know a mixed European/Taiwanese kid with a minor case - but that proves nothing other than that it doesn’t require two Taiwanese parents.
In the minor cases, if it doesn’t affect hearing, why would you bother about cosmetic surgery? Striving for bodily perfection never got anyone anywhere, except perhaps in debt to a rich surgeon.
I can’t believe anyone here for more than a few months hasn’t noticed this…it’s so prominant in Taiwan and VERY noticable…I once heard it happens at birth to children of very petite mothers…sounds unlikely though…
